Greece · Cyclades
Yacht Charter Naxos
The largest of the Cyclades, with a marble doorway on an islet and mountains that grow their own food.
Naxos is the biggest island in the Cyclades and the only one that feeds itself: it has mountains over a thousand metres, valleys with real soil, and villages inland that have nothing to do with the coast. The Portara — a marble doorway twenty tonnes in weight standing alone on the islet by the harbour — is what is left of a temple to Apollo begun in 530 BC and never finished.
The Portara and the town
The doorway stands on Palatia islet, joined to the town by a causeway, and it frames the sunset for anyone who walks out to it. The temple behind it was never built, which is why the door leads nowhere and has done for two and a half thousand years.
The Chora climbs behind the harbour to a Venetian kastro of 1207 with the walls and gate still in place, and the lanes inside are a different island from the waterfront below.
Inland, and the beaches
The mountain villages — Halki, Filoti, Apiranthos — grow citron, make cheese and distil kitron, a liqueur from citron leaves that exists nowhere else. Apiranthos is built entirely of marble because that is what the ground is made of.
The west coast has the long sand: Agios Prokopios, Plaka, Mikri Vigla, shallow and open, with the meltemi crossing them in summer and making the last two among the best windsurfing in Greece.
Practical notes
- The largest of the Cyclades and the only one that feeds itself, with mountains over a thousand metres
- The Portara stands on an islet joined to the town by a causeway, and frames the sunset
- The west-coast beaches are long, shallow and open; the meltemi crosses them in summer
- Paros is under an hour west, Santorini about four hours south
Reached from: Athens
Where to dine
A table by the water
Doukato
Naxos ChoraIn the lanes below the kastro, cooking what the island's own valleys grow.
Apiranthos
ApiranthosA marble village at six hundred metres, where the mountain eats and the cheese is made.
Paradiso
ApollonasAt the northern end by the unfinished kouros, a taverna with the sea in front and nothing else around.
What to do
Anchorages & excursions
The Portara
A twenty-tonne marble doorway on the islet by the harbour, all that was built of a temple to Apollo begun in 530 BC.
The Venetian kastro
1207, above the Chora, with the walls and gate still standing and a different island inside them.
Apiranthos
A mountain village built entirely of marble, because that is what the ground is made of.
The west-coast beaches
Agios Prokopios, Plaka and Mikri Vigla: long, shallow and open, and among the best windsurfing in Greece.
The fleet
Yachts available for Naxos
Vessels that operate here, from flagship motor yachts to smaller crewed boats. Every rate is quoted on enquiry.
Good to know
Questions we are asked about Naxos
- What is the Portara?
- A marble doorway weighing twenty tonnes standing alone on the islet by the harbour — all that was built of a temple to Apollo begun in 530 BC and abandoned. It has led nowhere for two and a half thousand years.
- What is inland?
- Mountain villages that have nothing to do with the coast: Apiranthos built entirely of marble, and citron groves that produce kitron, a liqueur made from the leaves and found nowhere else.
- What does a yacht charter to Naxos cost?
- It depends on the yacht, the season and the crew, so we quote on enquiry rather than publish a figure that would be wrong for most weeks.
Destinations
Nearby destinations
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Enquire about a charter on Naxos
Tell us your dates and how many of you there are, and we will come back with the right yacht and a full quotation.